Dragon Ball is the kind of manga that’s almost impossible to hate, and for anyone who’s a fan of the series, there are a lot of other manga that would be perfect for Dragon Ball fans to read. It’s impossible to see Dragon Ball as anything other than one of the biggest manga of all time. The series was impossible to ignore in the ’90s and 2000s when anime and manga were at the peak of popularity, and the fact that it’s still going strong after 40 years is a true testament to its legacy.
Some manga are great at mimicking Dragon Ball’s writing style and penchant for incredible battles, either well-choreographed battles or battles on massive scales, and others simply exude the same energy and charm that Dragon Ball did in its prime.
Whatever the case, there are a lot of great manga a Dragon Ball fan can read and feel the same excitement they get from Dragon Ball, and that’s worth calling attention to.
10 Toriko Modernizes Dragon Ball’s Over-The-Top Action
Manga by Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro
Release Year | 2008 |
Number Of Volumes | 43 |
Where To Read It | Viz |
The first great manga that a Dragon Ball fan should read is Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro’s Toriko. Like Dragon Ball, Toriko is constantly having its characters get involved in battles on massive scales that only get bigger and more over-the-top as the series goes along, something that, for many people, is the core of what makes Dragon Ball such a great series. Add in an easy-to-understand power system for the fights and a world filled with all sorts of creative and utterly bizarre locations and creatures, and someone can easily get the same experience out of Toriko that they got out of Dragon Ball.
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9 Black Clover Adds A Fantasy Element To Dragon Ball’s Combat
Manga by Yuki Tabata
Release Year | 2015 |
Number Of Volumes | 35 |
Where To Read It | Manga Plus, Viz |
Another great manga for fans of Dragon Ball’s over-the-top battles is Yuki Tabata’s Black Clover. Not only does Black Clover always have massive, over-the-top battles with a power system that’s very reminiscent of Dragon Ball’s signature energy attacks, but Asta himself falls into the same archetype as Goku by being an energetic, simpleton shonen protagonist with tremendous willpower, and he and other characters can even undergo transformations in the same vein as Super Saiyan. Black Clover’s writing very much harkens back to the period Dragon Ball debuted in, and that makes it a great read for any Dragon Ball fan.
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8 Fist Of The North Star Is Perfect For Fans Of Dragon Ball’s Martial Arts Action
Manga by Buronson & Tetsuo Hara
Release Year | 1983 |
Number Of Volumes | 27 |
Where To Read It | Unavailable |
For anyone who specifically likes the martial arts aspect of Dragon Ball, a great manga to read is Buronson and Tetsuo Hara’s Fist of the North Star. Fist of the North Star has long since prided itself on being a martial arts epic, with the core philosophies of martial arts, themselves, often used to develop the major themes of Fist of the North Star and its various spinoffs. Underneath all of the sci-fi and fantastical battles, Dragon Ball is, at its core, a martial arts series, so for anyone who appreciates that element, a manga that focuses on martial arts like Fist of the North Star is the perfect read.
7 JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Keeps Dragon Ball’s Creativity While Still Being Over-The-Top
Manga by Hirohiko Araki
Release Year | 1987 |
Number Of Volumes | 133 |
Where To Read It | Viz |
For a manga that balances the creativity of Dragon Ball’s early fights with the over-the-top nature of its later ones, a great manga for people to read is Hirohiko Araki’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. The Stands and other supernatural entities in JoJo often give the fights a bombastic flair reminiscent of Dragon Ball’s over-the-top fights, but the creativity in how their powers are used, combined with incredible fight choreography, do a great job of capturing the feel of the more grounded combat of Dragon Ball’s early years. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is great at balancing the various extremes of action, and that makes it a great read for any Dragon Ball fan.
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6 Record Of Ragnarok Makes Martial Arts Action As Big As Can Be
Manga by Shinya Umemura, Takumi Fukui, & Azychika
Release Year | 2017 |
Number Of Volumes | 20 |
Where To Read It | Comikey |
Another manga that does a great job of balancing the two extremes of Dragon Ball’s action is Shinya Umemura, Takumi Fukui, and Azychika’s Record of Ragnarok. Every fight in Record of Ragnarok is some form of close-quarters or martial arts combat, just like early Dragon Ball, and with the various powers of the fighters and the general hammy nature of the writing, there’s always an over-the-top feel to everything, just like what Dragon Ball’s fighting would eventually evolve into. Record of Ragnarok perfectly caters to both people who like small-scale battles and people who like grandiose ones, so it’s a perfect read for any Dragon Ball fan.
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5 Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai Gets To The Core Of Dragon Ball’s Aesthetic
Manga by Riku Sanjo & Koji Inada
Release Year | 1989 |
Number Of Volumes | 37 |
Where To Read It | Viz |
Another manga that does a great job of capturing Dragon Ball’s core aesthetic is Riku Sanjo and Koji Inada’s Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai. Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama famously provides the character designs for the Dragon Quest franchise, and very appropriately, The Adventure of Dai keeps to Dragon Ball’s central idea of heroes going on adventures and battling evil with dramatic flair with stellar execution from start to finish. There are few manga that keep to Dragon Ball’s core aesthetic as well as Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai, and any Dragon Ball fan would be remiss to pass it over.
Read On Viz
4 Sailor Moon Is Perfect For Any Fan Nostalgic Of Dragon Ball‘s Era
Manga by Naoko Takeuchi
Release Year | 1991 |
Number Of Volumes | 18 |
Where To Read It | Unavailable |
Sometimes, two stories can complement each other just by coming out at the same time, and a great manga for Dragon Ball fans to read based on that is Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor Moon. Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon were both at the peak of their popularity in the same era, and they both have a writing and art style that, despite showing their age in various areas, still holds up well and perfectly encapsulates an older era of anime and manga. Add in Sailor Moon’s own penchant for over-the-top, sci-fi action, and there’s a lot to like for anyone who’s a fan of Dragon Ball.
3 Saint Seiya Is The Other Signature Martial Arts Fantasy Manga Of The ’90s
Manga by Masami Kurumada
Release Year | 1990 |
Number Of Volumes | 28 |
Where To Read It | Viz |
Another manga that’s great for Dragon Ball fans because of the period it came out in is Masami Kurumada’s Saint Seiya. Like Sailor Moon, Saint Seiya is another ’90s manga that helped make anime take off around the world, so there’s a definite nostalgia factor at play, and with its fantasy-style action and martial arts leanings, the first major story arc even being a tournament arc, there’s a lot of definite overlap with Dragon Ball, technical or otherwise. There are many places where Saint Seiya was just as impactful as Dragon Ball, if not more, so Dragon Ball fans are sure to get a lot out of it.
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2 Yu-Gi-Oh! Is Another Perfect Time Capsule For A Bygone Era
Manga by Kazuki Takahashi
Release Year | 1996 |
Number Of Volumes | 38 |
Where To Read It | Viz |
Kazuki Takahashi’s Yu-Gi-Oh! might have started well after Dragon Ball, but it still has a nostalgia factor that makes it a great read for any Dragon Ball fan. Yu-Gi-Oh! still came out at a time when anime and manga were only just starting to take off in the West, and just like Dragon Ball, Yu-Gi-Oh! played a big part in that happening thanks to how easily accessible its story was and for featuring kid-friendly writing that managed to be engaging without being overly simple. The original manga has the same positives, albeit with uncensored dialogue, so it would also be great for any Dragon Ball fan to read.
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1 One Piece Is A Perfect Continuation Of Dragon Ball’s Legacy
Manga by Eiichiro Oda
Release Year | 1997 |
Number Of Volumes | 107 |
Where To Read It | Manga Plus, Viz |
The last manga for Dragon Ball fans to talk about, and probably the best one to read, is Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece. It’s common knowledge that One Piece was heavily inspired by Dragon Ball, and that’s perfectly shown in the utterly bizarre world the characters travel through and how much the character writing is reminiscent of Dragon Ball’s, especially with how much Luffy falls into Goku’s specific archetype of shōnen manga protagonist. One Piece is a manga that very much succeeds at capturing what made Dragon Ball so great, and that’s why it stands out as one of the best manga every Dragon Ball fan needs to read.
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